Kukla's Korner Hockey

Entries with the tag: manny fernandez

Clearly trying to put all things Minnesota behind him, Fernandez appeared stunned when a reporter from St. Paul walked up to him the other day in Ristuccia Arena, where the Boston Bruins practice.

You could almost see the wheels turning. Did he mix up the next opponent? Weren’t the Bruins scheduled to play the Devils the next afternoon?

At times cordial and at times a smoldering volcano during his six seasons with the Wild, Fernandez seems to have turned over a new leaf with the Boston Bruins. After a moment, he extended his hand, peeled off his big goalie pads and said he’d be happy to talk a little puck.

The Bruins’ front office doesn’t seek this space for advice, but if I were general manager of the hottest hockey team on Causeway in 15 years, I’d try to tie down Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez today for three-year extensions worth an average $3 million a year. I could be wrong, but I think each of the 34-year-olds might bite (key stat: age 34). That wouldn’t be music to the ears of wunderkind Tuukka Rask, eager to launch his NHL career, but Thomas and Fernandez are proven NHL commodities.

In the Bruins’ plan for 2008-09, one likely scenario was to have Manny Fernandez reclaim his game, then swap the free agent-to-be before the trade deadline, replacing the veteran with rookie Tuukka Rask to back up Tim Thomas.

But with the Bruins merrily steamrolling opponents and both goalies combining to form the stoutest puck-stopping tandem in the league, general manager Peter Chiarelli may find that trading Fernandez brings more harm than benefit.

...And then there are those players whose season begins with something more instinctual: the desire to prove they are healed. Broken bones have mended, twisted and torn ligaments have grown strong and swollen brains have returned to normal.

Every year, there are players like teammates Patrice Bergeron and Manny Fernandez, who must prove their injuries have not robbed them of their futures and their careers.

This is their story—or, at the very least, the first chapter of their journey back.

“I thought he was dead”

Patrice Bergeron is sitting outside the TD Banknorth Garden on a low stone wall talking about the uncertain convergence of his past and future.

“Somewhere in there, right after the surgery, I hit my low point,” admitted (Manny) Fernandez, who is still bitter over being advised against surgery in Minnesota. “It was overwhelming — too much happening too fast.”

In all, Fernandez has dressed for only 15 of his teams’ last 108 games the past 20 months, and has played in just four of them — the bum knee being directly or indirectly responsible for all 93 missed games.

You can forget an awful lot in that time, but some of it is starting to come back as Fernandez prepares for the 2008-09 season.

“Every day, it seems like I make one save that kind of reminds me of what I used to be, so that’s good,” he said on Friday…

“My game juices are going to be flowing a little too much,” said Manny. “I’m going to have to ease back on it a little bit.

“The excitement and everything is going to be there since it hasn’t been there for a while, so it’s a matter of…making sure that my (technique) is good and that I am playing my game.”

“Physically there’s no problem at all,” he said. “It’s going to be a long road to get back (to form) and to get back to (game) shape, but I think hard work and focus is the way to get in there and compete.”

-Bruins goalie Manny Fernandez.

More on the goalie camp Bob Essensa had earlier today from John Bishop of BostonBruins.com.

Barring an unexpectedly quick rehabilitation, goalie Manny Fernandez’ first year as a Bruin ended yesterday when he underwent surgery to repair a torn MCL in his left knee.

Fernandez first suffered the injury last season while with the Minnesota Wild, but it continued to bother him and has affected his play since training camp.

“It’s a relief, because we know he’s going to be in shape for next year,” B’s general manager Peter Chiarelli said last night before his team’s 4-3 win over the Thrashers. “It’s likely that he’ll be gone the whole year, maybe not, but he’ll be ready for next year.

“It’s been a chronic thing all year and Manny felt he couldn’t perform at 100 percent. He had to alter his style. I’m not ruling out him coming back this year, but we’re under the assumption that with proper rehab, it’s going to take the rest of the year.”

“No, it wasn’t,” said the Bruins’ injured netminder yesterday, his knee woes making him a spectator for most of this season. “But at least we’ve reached a decision. We have a plan, and now we’ll go from here.”

The plan, in a nutshell: 1. get back on skates immediately; 2. build up leg strength through on-ice workouts and off-ice rehab; 3. hope for the best.

All of that, which Fernandez plans to begin as early as tomorrow in a late-morning workout, is in lieu of surgery.

Chiarelli said the strain might keep Fernandez sidelined for the next two or three days, which might put him out of uniform for Thursday’s game against Buffalo. With Jordan Sigalet recalled to replace Fernandez, all signs point toward Tim Thomas starting on Thursday.

Chiarelli said the strain was not related to the left knee sprain Fernandez sustained last season.

Yes, this is the same Manny Fernandez who ranks dead last among NHL goalies in goals-against average (5.00) and save percentage (.796), and once again is splitting time with another goaltender.

Fernandez is 1-1 in two starts. In three starts, partner/backup Tim Thomas ranks second in the NHL with a 1.34 GAA and .957 save percentage, right behind the Wild’s Nik Backstrom (1.00, .959) - the guy who pushed Fernandez out of Minnesota after seven seasons.

So, for Fernandez, it has been a case of here we go again.

“We’re splitting time for now,” he said. “You know, it’s the same questions and the same answers as it’s always been. We don’t make the rules, and we don’t make the decisions.”

“It’s easier to play a lot of games than a few,” Fernandez said. “It’s a little tougher to get prepared mentally for one (game) every five or one every three. Once you get on a roll, you want to keep going. It’s easier to feel out the team, too, and have the team knowing exactly what to do.”

Ultimately, it will depend on the two goaltenders whether their roles sort themselves out comfortably - or whether a good, old-fashioned goalie controversy develops.